Speakers: Xue Qiao (School of Economics, Renmin University of China)

Time: May 12, 2023 (Friday),14:00-16:00

Venue: Meeting Room 308, College Building 11

Abstract:To examine the influence of rural broadband construction on rural labor migration, this article establishes a labor migration model and uses the policy impact of the "Broadband Village" project and the "Universal Telecommunications Service" pilot project. Using the difference-in-differences method, the 2013 and 2018 rural household survey data were analyzed. The study found that rural broadband construction significantly promotes rural labor migration. This effect is more pronounced among groups with lower migration costs (lower family support and care burden) and higher expected migration wages (males, adult labor, and higher education level). In terms of migration patterns, inter-provincial migration within the same province has increased significantly, and people are more likely to migrate to the provincial capital. The analysis of the influence mechanism found that rural broadband construction changed the work search patterns of rural residents, reducing the search time, promoting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship, and increasing the use of mobile phones to obtain information. This study shows that broadband construction further promotes rural labor migration by relaxing the limitations of geographic distance on information flow and acquisition.